The typical CEO compensation package rose nearly 6% in 2025 to $17.7 million, as company boards rewarded their top executives for bigger profits and higher stock prices, and gave them incentives to stick around and make even more money for shareholders in the years ahead.
Being paid $17.7 million in a single year is absurd, considering that $10 million is still enough to make a person with reasonable spending habits comfortable for life. But that’s not nearly enough for the average CEO. They want 10 times as much.